Many memes are communicated through language, and, like any tool, language shapes how we look at the world when using it.Language facilitates some memes’ replication and makes the survival of others more difficult by shaping what relations are easy to notice and what relations require more effort. Different languages have different biases in this regard. One linguistic feature is particularly relevant here: do we experience our world primarily as objects, or primarily as processes and relations? Clearly there is value in both perspectives, but which gets emphasis is in no small part shaped by language.

My youngest son Robin (age 8) was recently accepted to be part of a kid's advisory group for a well-known national youth magazine. Lots of fun! One of Robin's first tasks was to send in some possible questions for a “you asked” column. Some of his questions were pretty normal: how does a chameleon change colours? how many bricks would it take to build a life-sized Lego person? Solid questions! He also generated this question: what proof do we have that any gods exist?

Fire has long been a holy symbol, a representation of the spirit and even the divine. Fire worship is one of the earliest forms of religion known to humankind – one can almost imagine our ancient ancestors marveling at the sight of a red ember crackling out of a fire and flying up and away into the black night sky. It just sparks a sense of reverence, doesn’t it?

The ancient Romans sure thought so. Building on Etruscan spirituality and borrowing at times from the Greeks, they built an empire – literally and metaphorically – around the sacred fire of the goddess Vesta. Rome's founding people lit Vesta's flame in the space that would become the Roman Forum and soon built a temple around it.

I have been involved in occult and spiritual pursuits since I was a child, performed rituals as a teenager, but my first attendance at a Pagan event was in 1978 so I count that as my start in the community. Next year will be my 40th year as a member of this community. In that time I have learned from peers, elders, students, spirits and God/des/es, and from close observation and contemplation of my experiences. I’ve owned and run a metaphysical shop twice in my time as a Pagan. The first time for 6 years and the second time for 10 years. Some of my most important lessons came to me from my role as a shop keeper.

In 5th grade, we had an assignment to make art depicting "innocence and the light and grace of God" (or something similar). I chose to draw a young boy and girl standing bathed in the light of the Holy Spirit (in dove form), their backs to the viewer, their bodies lightly covered in transparent shifts. To me that showed the purity of creation, a clear symbol of innocence. I thought it was a beautiful drawing.

My classmates called me a pervert and were horrified. My teacher told me they needed more clothes. I didn't see anything wrong or shameful in what I had drawn.

I grew up with big books of museum art full of nudes, wallpaper with naked women bathing in my parents' bathroom - which was no different than the metallic lions and tigers in the jungle on the walls of the bathroom my brothers and I shared. Bodies are used in art because they are amazing things. I inherently understood that being naked didn't automatically mean being sexual.

Long time, no write. Although I do have three drafts started on the Word app on my tablet, my son had commandeered my tablet after his high school graduation and I had only been lucky enough to touch it two brief times since then.

Now that I'm on a training trip away from my family, I find that I have pockets of free time. And, bonus, I have my laptop back! Had to use it when I worked from home for a large retail company. But now that I'm in training for another work-at-home job (much better than the previous one), I get to have it back. At some point I will grab my tablet and transfer the drafted blogs and post them. So I was getting ready to leave my training day thinking that all I wanted to do was sit and decompress and write when I received a lovely "missing you" email, gently reminding me that I have a warm place to write - exactly what was on my brain. Someone was reading my thoughts.